Going through the full list of my classes would be a waste of paper, and since most of them were basic classes that you could find anywhere, there’s really no point. So, I’ll limit myself to just the unique ones, and the ones I considered taking.
There were three classes relating to my race: [Vampire Queen], [Vampire Champion], and [Sole Survivor]. The last was offered because I was the only living member of my species, confirming that the previous vampires had gone completely extinct. And because I was the only one, that meant I was also the ruler of the vampires, and the strongest of them, hence the other two classes.
I was offered [Demon King of Pride] as well, but I vetoed that immediately. The stat bonuses were easily the best of all the available classes, but I was concerned about others being able to see my class. I had learned from Anatoly that the only way others could see my class is if they had a unique skill granted by a god, and with thirteen other people running around with unique skills granted by the gods and who wanted me dead, I wasn’t willing to take that chance. Besides, it had only been a few days since I met Pride; I was unable to think rationally when it came to her, and I would have rejected the class on principle, even if there were no other concerns.
There were a few other noble classes offered, which was a little odd. My best guess is that the System detected that I was descended from French nobility, and given that I was the only member of that bloodline in Astraeus, it offered me those titles.
The only two classes I considered were [Sole Survivor] and [Vampire Champion]. I’ll include the stat blocks below so you can see why, as well as the one for [Demon King of Pride].
Sole Survivor
Prerequisites: Be the last surviving member of your species
You are alone in the world and your species will die with you. With no one else to rely on, you have had to become almost entirely self-sufficient.
Unlocks: [Perseverance], [Sprint], [Detection], [Inventory]
+64 free stats every User Level
Vampire Champion
Prerequisites: Be the strongest of the Vampires
You are the pinnacle of your species. None of your people can rival you in combat.
Unlocks: [Champion’s Aura], [Enhanced Battle Sense]
+12 to all stats every User level
Demon King of Pride
Prerequisites: Be chosen by Pride
You are the incarnation of the Demon God Pride. Nations quake in fear when they learn of your presence.
Unlocks: [Demonic Aura], and 3 custom skills
+150 free stats every User level
[Vampire Champion] had practically unheard-of levels of stat bonuses, and was second only to [Demon King of Pride] in pure quantity, but the skills were lackluster. [Sole Survivor] had less total stat points, but gave me more freedom with them, and the skills it came with were much better. [Perseverance] and [Inventory] would have made the choice a no-brainer if not for the power that came with [Vampire Champion].
I settled on [Sole Survivor] for the aforementioned reasons, planning to switch to [Vampire Champion] later. I never intended to actually become a Demon King; I would never have taken the class if I had another viable option. I hate Pride with a passion and I refuse to be acknowledged as her representative. I only took the class later to use its power to survive.
Anatoly was still awake when I finished, so I informed him of my new class and skills. He congratulated me, and we talked for a little while about potential plans for the future, and then he went to bed.
The next few days passed unremarkably. Sylvia came every morning and Ophelia every evening, and I learned more about them, and I learned the names of a few other regulars, but those interactions took up very little time, so I spent most of my days practicing magic and absorbing as much information about the world as I could. I won’t bore you with the details of every little skill and spell I learned, but there is one that is important for the readers to know, that skill being [Imitate Life].
[Imitate Life] is a skill exclusive to Vampires that allows us to, as the name implies, imitate life. The base level, which was the only version I could manage to do initially, simply gave me a false heartbeat. It took some tinkering, but with the help of [Hemokinesis], I was able to forcibly get my blood pumping, which had the added bonus of making my skin less corpse gray and more albino-white. It also automated my breathing, giving me the impression of an actual living, breathing person.
The disguise didn’t hold up to scrutiny though. It did nothing for my body temperature, which I estimate was stuck at a cool fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and my heart rate was also stuck constant, so an observant person with good hearing would be able to notice that something was wrong if they spent enough time with me. Fortunately, those types of people were few and far between, so for the time being, I was almost inconspicuous, especially with all the other upgrades we made to my disguise.
It didn’t take long for Anatoly to get me an appointment with a high-level hairdresser who grew my hair and styled it in what was supposed to be typical fashion for upper-class commoners (a thick braid in the back and a few loose strands in the front). It looked good, but I did not enjoy my new appearance at all. As I’ve mentioned before, I inherited a lot of Valerie’s genes, for better and worse. I can’t count how many times I’ve been told that I look just like her. When I was younger, before I learned what a nasty, arrogant bitch she was, she had a habit of treating me like a dress-up doll, putting me in fancy dresses and spending hours on my makeup, and then crooning over how I looked, and complimenting herself through me. I loved the attention and fake love at the time, but when I got older and less naive, looking back on that was sickening. I spent years barefaced and short-haired after that, doing everything I could to separate my image from hers, but within days of Pride kidnapping me, I had had to throw it all away. It was a necessary sacrifice, but not one I will ever be making again.
In addition to my new hairstyle, we also expanded my wardrobe to a total of seven dresses, two sets of shirts with pants, and a few accessories and bags that were more fashionable than the big leather one I already had. Despite my insistence, he refused to take the price out of my wages, saying that it was just a “business expense” and that he was buying “uniforms” for his employee. The “uniforms” weren’t very uniform, but they were similar enough, and necessary enough for my work, that I eventually let him out-stubborn me.
After two and a half weeks of nothing (at least, nothing that directly affected me), I decided that I had assimilated as much of the culture as I could while stuck in the bookstore and that I needed to get out and get some real experience. Though I had been outside the store a couple times, Anatoly had always been with me. His presence was helpful, and likely saved my life, but it was also suffocating, and his excessive help patronizing. He didn’t want to let me go alone– and he was right to be worried– but I lined up the perfect excuse.
“I finally have the money,” I said. “I’m going to pay him back.”
“It’s too dangerous,” he replied. “You’re not ready. You’re only level 12”
“And a vampire. And a talented mage. And my class gives me 64 stat points at every level. You said it yourself already: I’m already as strong as an average level 30. And this is a walled, policed city. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“A lone girl wandering around an unfamiliar city is always in danger.”
I snorted. “You’re not seriously trying to play that card, are you?”
“...Fine,” he grumped. “But at least take this.”
He held a simple, silver bracelet. I picked it up, and examined it, sensing a faint trace of mana.
“What is it?” I asked.
“If you find yourself in danger, just push your mana into it, and you’ll be teleported back here.”
“This is a teleportation artifact?”
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“Yes.”
“You mean like the teleportation artifacts that even nobles have trouble getting their hands on? The kind that go for millions of gold at auctions?”
“It has unlimited uses,” he said. “So you’ll just be borrowing it. Today only. If you really insist, I can take the rental fees out of your pay.”
“Please,” I said, slipping it down over my hand where it shrunk to fit perfectly around my wrist. “Then I’m off. See you in a few hours.”
“Don’t get into any trouble.”
“I won’t.”
“And stick to the main roads. No dark alleys. And avoid the red light district. All kinds of-”
“I’ll be fine.” I interrupted, opening the door. “Bye.”
It was early afternoon when I left, so the sun was still high in the sky and the streets were still bustling. I stuck to the busy main roads like Anatoly said to as I made my way to the west gate of the city where the Adventurer’s guild branch was located. It wasn’t hard to find, and not for any good reasons.
The building five stories, two taller than any around it, and made of solid gray stone– probably shaped by an Earth mage– with an asymmetric window pattern. The brutalist brick stuck out like a flayed thumb compared to the more elegant gothic style of the rest of the city, and that wasn’t even the worst of it. An enormous wooden sign with “ADVENTU RER’S GUIL D” (yes, that spacing is accurate) written on it in sloppy red script covered up almost the entire second floor wall. The wood making up the sign was uneven and warped, and there were gaps between the planks where I could see windows poking through.
I walked inside, and when I didn’t see Rafael immediately, I stepped into the back of the line of people waiting at the receptionist desk. As I waited and looked around, I realized that I looked just as out of place there as the building looked in the city. Everyone inside, save for the receptionists, was wearing odd combinations of armor and colorful accessories, most of which didn’t match at all, and many of them were covered in dirt and reeked of sweat and blood. I, on the other hand, was wearing one of my new dresses, with a hooded shawl and fur-lined boots. It was not all that fancy, but compared to what everyone else wore, I might as well have been wearing a crown. Most of the adventurers gave me curious looks as they passed by, but none stopped to comment, so I made it to the front of the line without issue.
“Hello, welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild!” said the cheerful young woman behind the desk. “Here to put in a request?”
“No, actually, I’m looking for someone,” I said. “His name’s Rafael. He should have registered here a couple weeks ago. He told me I could find him here.”
“Oh so you’re the one he’s been waiting for!” she exclaimed. “He stops every day asking if anyone’s come looking for him. Here hold on a second.” She rummaged through a stack of papers, then pulled one out and handed it to me. “Here’s the information he left on how to contact him. Though, I think he’s out at the Dungeon right now. He should be back in a couple hours, if you want to wait, or come back. His party usually finishes up pretty early, so they should be back before dinner.”
“I’ll come back then,” I said. “In the meantime, where’s a good weapon shop?”
“Ooh, are you getting him a gift?” she asked.
“No, it’s for me,” I said. “I lost my good knives not too long ago, so I need replacements.”
“Then you’ll want to go to Gunnar’s. Just go outside and turn left, and it’s two blocks down on the corner. Can’t miss it. You can find pretty much anything there, and it’s run by dwarves, so you know it’s good. It’s the go-to weapon supplier for this branch of the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“Thanks. I’ll check it out, and then probably wander around a bit before I come back.”
“No problem! Thanks for stopping by! I’ll let Raffy know you were here if he gets back first.”
“Thank you.”
As it turned out, I didn’t actually need any directions, once I knew I was looking for a dwarven forge. A pillar of smoke rose from the building hundreds of feet into the sky. It was odd that I hadn’t noticed it earlier. Aside from the smoke though, it looked normal enough. The dwarves had evidently done what the Guild could not and made their building not look ugly and anachronistic.
Although the shop appeared to be a three story building, on the inside, it seemed as though the second and third floors had been removed to make the entire building one enormous room. There were a half dozen furnaces and anvils and various other contraptions that I don’t know enough about smithing to name, and gleaming weapons of all kinds lined the walls.
“Welcome,” said a burly dwarf when I walked in. “Here to make a commission, or looking for something ready-made?”
“Ready-made. I just need a couple decent knives. Nothing fancy.”
“Enchanted, or mundane?”
“Depends on the price. I’m not from here, so I don’t know what I can afford.”
“Well over on that table, we have mundane bladed weapons.” He pointed to the table in question. “Two gold for a sword, one for a dagger or a hunting knife, and four silver for the smaller blades. You can look through and take your pick. If you want anything enchanted, it’s five silver for your basic durability, and you can check the board for the price of anything else.” He gestured behind him at a large wooden sign. “Price is the same no matter the weapon. It may take a few days if you select a more complex enchantment combination.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll just look around for a bit then.”
“Take your time. Name’s Knut. Just call me if you need anything.”
The prices were a bit higher than I was hoping for, but Anatoly had given me a month’s advance (again, in spite of my protests), so I was able to afford one good hunting knife with a durability enchantment, and a mundane version of one of the smaller blades. The whole visit took less than an hour, so with plenty of time to kill, I wandered around for a bit exploring the city.
There wasn’t much to see; not for me at least. There was plenty to do for people with human taste buds. Bakeries and street-carts selling fried pastries and meat skewers and sweets filled the streets with their scents, rubbing the fact that I couldn’t eat them in my face. My trip wasn’t all boring and painful though. I caught a couple street performances from mages and aura users that I see now weren’t very impressive, but having come from a magic-less, System-free Earth, I thought they were incredible, and so I left them a small tip each time.
Even after watching those though, it had still only been another hour, so, thinking I had time to kill, I meandered a bit further, until I heard something that drew me in like a fly to honey. It was the familiar sound of a piano, my instrument, being played by an experienced musician. I followed the sound into a saloon-like establishment, that was empty save for me, the bartender, and the pianist.
The man in front of the keys was a white-haired elderly man with a hunched back, but his hands were light and nimble as they danced, creating a wonderful sound. The piece he was playing sounded like Kapustin, but it wasn’t any piece I had ever heard, so I just stood there, absorbing as much of the music as I could. When he finished, I gave him a polite, but enthusiastic round of applause.
“Ah, I didn’t realize I had an audience,” he said, turning around to give me a smile. “Thank you for listening.”
“No, thank you,” I said. “That was wonderful. What was that piece called?”
“It’s just a little something I’ve been playing around with,” he said. “It doesn’t have a name yet.”
“You wrote it? That’s impressive. It’s really good.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ve tried writing a few pieces myself, but I can never seem to get them to sound so complete and well-put-together.”
“It comes with age,” he said. “You’ll get there eventually. You play?”
“I do, though it’s been a little while.”
“Would you like to take a turn?” He stood up and gestured toward the bench.
I glanced outside, hesitating for a moment, since I needed to meet Rafael, and didn’t want to get too distracted, but in the end, I couldn’t resist.
“Yes I would.”
“Be my guest.”
I played a few scales and arpeggios to warm up my fingers as I considered what I should play. I almost decided to play one of my own competitions, since I had just mentioned them, but none of them were ready to be played yet, so I instead decided to stick with the theme and play Kapustin’s Variations for Piano. It wasn’t as clean as it was when I played it in the recital I learned it for, but I made it through to the end without any major mistakes, and earned applause from both the old pianist and the bartender.
“Was that one of your pieces?” asked the pianist.
“Oh no,” I said. “It’s a piece by someone from my hometown. He’s dead now, but I learned some of his music and I play it sometimes.”
“Ah, that’s a shame. I would have loved to meet him. What was his name?”
“Nikolai Kapustin.”
“Was he an elf?”
He asked this because the only people with Russian names in Astraeus are elves and their descendants.
“Half,” I replied. “We lived in a small town, and he was pretty reclusive. It makes sense that you haven’t heard of him.”
“I see,” he said. “Do you know any more?”
“Just one,” I said. “Just gimme a minute. It’s been a while since I played it.”
“Of course. Take your time.”
The piece I planned to play was Kapustin’s Toccatina, which I had learned back in high school. I still played through it occasionally to make sure I still could, but prior to arriving in Astraeus, it had been a few months. Fortunately, my [Intelligence]-boosted mind was able to piece it together fairly quickly, and I was able to launch into it without issue.
“Wonderful!” exclaimed the old man after I finished. “It’s such a shame he’s already passed. I would have loved to talk with him.”
“Me too,” I said. “I only actually got to talk with him a couple times, and never in much depth.”
“Gone too soon.”
We sat in silence for a moment before I spoke up.
“Well, I have to meet someone soon, so I need to be going. It was nice to meet you though. What was your name by the way?”
“I’m Joel,” said the old man.
“Lucille.”
“I hope you’ll stop by again when you have more time,” he said. “But I won’t keep you any longer today.”
“I will,” I said. “Have a good day.”
“You too.”
I left the saloon feeling much more comfortable with my situation than I had been upon entering. I still fully understood that I was stuck in an unfamiliar world full of people who wanted to kill me, but they had pianos, and that somehow made everything seem less dreary. In fact, I was feeling so cheerful that when I reached the guild, and saw Rafael on the streets heading my direction, I actually called out to him and waved.
And then he ignored me.
I hadn’t known him long, but I knew that was out of character for him, so I got suspicious. I called and waved again, but he still did not respond. When he reached the Adventurer’s Guild, he did not stop to go inside, and instead kept walking past. When he got close enough for me to see his face, I saw that his eyes were glazed and unfocused, and that his mouth was stuck half-open. I knew something was wrong, and I probably should have just grabbed him and tried to wake him up, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I instead followed him from a distance.
He walked down the street a ways before making a sharp turn. I followed behind as he walked further and further into one of the areas of the city that Anatoly had specifically told me to stay away from until he turned into an abandoned alley, and I heard a loud smack, followed by a thud. I rushed to the corner to see what had happened and found Rafael lying face down on the street with blood dripping from his forehead and two cloaked women standing over him staring at me.